Sanhedrin 77B

בשעתיה. הכא, בלא שרגא נמי מתחיל הבלא בשעתיה.

at the time of the perpetrator’s action, as the room is sufficiently large to enable the individual to breathe. Here, in the case where one overturns a vat upon another, even without a kindled lamp the atmosphere begins to cause suffocation at the time of the perpetrator’s actions. Therefore, the two cases are not comparable, and it is Rava who exempts the one who overturned a vat upon another.

(סימן: סולם, תריס, סמנין, בכותל).

§ The Talmud cited a mnemonic for the halakhot that follow with regard to causing the death of another: Ladder, shield, herbs, in a wall.

אמר רבא: דחפו לבור, וסולם בבור, ובא אחר וסילקו, ואפילו הוא קדם וסילקו ⁠– פטור, דבעידנא דשדייה יכול לעלות הוא.

Rava says: In a case where one pushed another into the pit and there was a ladder in the pit that would enable him to emerge from it, and another individual came and removed the ladder, or even if the perpetrator himself removed the ladder before the one whom he pushed could emerge, causing him to die of starvation, the perpetrator is exempt from execution. The reason is that at the time that he cast him into the pit, the victim was able to ascend and emerge from the pit. Pushing him into the pit did not cause his death, and the removal of the ladder merely prevented the victim from emerging, but was not an action that directly caused his death.

ואמר רבא: זרק חץ, ותריס בידו, ובא אחר ונטלו, ואפילו הוא קדם ונטלו ⁠– פטור, דבעידנא דשדייה ביה מיפסק פסיקי גיריה.

And Rava says: In the case of one who shot an arrow at another, and there was a shield [teris] in the victim’s hand, if another individual came and took the shield from him, or even if the one who shot the arrow took the shield before the arrow reached the victim, the attacker is exempt from execution. The reason is that at the time that he shot the arrow at the victim, his arrows were blocked from the one being attacked by the shield, and they could not harm him. The victim’s death was caused indirectly, by removal of the shield.